


The Beginning

by mnemosyneforget



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms
Genre: Fluff, Friendship, Gen, I mean sure it could eventually be shippy but right now they are seven and ten so I'm gonnna say nah, Robb Stark is a Gift, Toxic Masculinity, all views expressed by greyjoys are not healthy nor approved, give it ten years, tiny Theon is confused by morals
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-03
Updated: 2019-08-03
Packaged: 2020-07-30 12:28:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,028
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20097238
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mnemosyneforget/pseuds/mnemosyneforget
Summary: Theon reluctantly makes his first friend at Winterfell.





	The Beginning

When Theon had arrived at Winterfell, he had expected to be ignored. It made sense that he, as a reminder of past conflict, would be shoved into a room and left to his own devices. Who would want to take a hostage under their wing? 

No adults, apparently. Lord Stark looked at him with grim sadness and a bit of regret, but Theon knew that the pity that was held for him was no match for the infamous honor of the Starks. Lady Stark stuck up her nose and him and pretended that he wasn’t there. Theon thought that maybe it had something to do with her husband bringing home another child that wasn’t hers. At least he wasn’t Ned Stark’s, he thought with a twinge of hysterical humor. Then Lady Stark might’ve finally gone over the edge and found a way to be rid of him. 

Getting lost in thought was a common occurrence these days. With no Asha to tease back and forth with and no mother to smother him, he found that he had less use for words than he ever had in his life. He shuddered. At least he had no brothers to “play” with him. 

It was because of this, about a week after arriving, that he did not hear someone walk up beside him after the noon meal. 

“Hello!” a little voice squeaked. 

Theon nearly jumped out of his skin. He whirled around to see the red-haired, chubby-cheeked son of his captors. 

_ Awfully adorable for a member of a house known for being no fun,  _ thought Theon. 

When he didn’t respond immediately, the little heir showed the beginnings of a pout and decided to make another move. “I’m Robb,” he said. “I know that you’re going to be a guest for a while so I wanted to make sure that you knew I was your friend!” With this, he beamed and rested back on his heels, his work done. 

Theon stared blankly at him. 

Robb slowly lost his smile and the pout returned. “Didn’t you hear me?” he asked. “We’re friends now.’

After another small pause, Theon snorted. “Does that friendship last up until your father needs to cut off my head?” he asked. 

To his surprise and utmost horror, Robb immediately burst into tears. 

Theon looked around frantically for any member of the Stark family to foist this strange, bawling child off on them. Suddenly, he realized how it would look if someone happened to come across him, who was a few years older and significantly bigger, and a crying Robb. 

Cringing and wanting to be literally anywhere else, he started shushing the crying child and moving his hands in what was supposed to be a soothing manner but ended up looking like he was trying to knead a giant loaf of bread. 

“Why are you crying?!” he hissed. “You need to stop. How old are you anyway?”

The interest in his personal affairs seemed to interest Robb right out of his crying fit. “Seven,” he sniffled.

Theon sighed. If he had cried in front of anyone besides his mother at that age, he would’ve been dangled off of the cliffs of Pyke until he stopped making sounds entirely. “You aren’t a baby. What if someone sees you?”

Robb frowned. “So what-”  _ sniffle _ “-if someone sees me?”

“Well, won’t they get mad?” Theon half asked, half explained. 

Robb shook his head. “Mother always gives me a hug and father pats my head if I’m upset. And sometimes the nice girls in the kitchen sneak me cookies.”

Theon was aghast at these displays of what his family called weakness. Apparently, Asha was right about the Greenlanders. They really were soft. He sighed. “You never answered my question. Why did you start crying? I only asked a question.”

Big blue eyes started to fill up with tears again and Theon almost smacked himself with regret at starting the troublesome process all over. 

Thankfully, Robb wiped the tears from his eyes with one fist and answered. 

“I don’t want to think of my friend getting his head chopped off. It makes me sad.” 

Theon rolled his eyes. “It’s the truth. And I don’t even know you. How can you be my friend?”

Robb went to answer but Theon continued. “And if you start crying over me, what will you do when someone you  _ actually  _ love is in danger?”

“Like Jon?” Robb asked, voice slightly wobbly. 

Theon thought back to the small, dark-haired boy that he rarely saw not clinging to Robb’s shirttails. He then thought of Lady Stark and how offended she would be at how much affection her beloved son had for his bastard half-brother. 

He smiled faintly. “You really love him that much?”

Robb returned to smiling, his moods as fickle as the average child. “He’s my brother. He’s smaller than me but he’s nice and he likes swords and adventuring and he  _ always  _ lets me be the hero when we play!” 

Theon was silent. 

“Don’t you love your brothers?” Robb asked innocently. 

“My brothers liked to lock me in the cellar,” Theon said quietly. “They were bigger than me so they would hit me when they walked by, ‘to make me stronger’, they said.” He paused. “And they’re dead now, anyway.”

Robb looked horrified. “I would never do that to Jon!” he cried. “Not ever!” 

Theon smiled, a little bigger this time. “I believe you. If you cry at words there’s no way you could actually do anything mean.” 

Robb looked proud. “Exactly!” 

Groaning, Theon rested his forehead on his palm. “Look, if I say we’re friends, will you leave me alone?”

Carefully weighing the options, Robb made his choice. “Sure!” 

Theon stuck out he hand. “Okay, I-” 

He was interrupted and hand hit away by a small body coming at him a remarkably fast speed for being such a small distance away. 

“Oof!” he grunted, the breath knocked out of him. Robb’s arms were wrapped around his midsection, squeezing as hard as he was able. 

After a moment, Theon let his arms fall around the small body. Hesitantly, he rested his head on top of red curls. 

“Friends,” he said. 

**Author's Note:**

> Please let me know if there are any spelling or grammatical errors. Thanks for reading!


End file.
